Glittering Impressions
by Golden Moon Huntress
Summary: A short story about a girl who Impresses a clutch of firelizards.


**Author's Note**

I do not own Dragonriders of Pern. All rights to the rightful owner.

* * *

Sae couldn't believe her luck. Fire lizard eggs were semi-common, but worth a fortune.

And here she was with a whole clutch of twenty seven!

It had been laid in a narrow nook, enough to keep it warm, protected, and away from human eyes.

At least until she took her fall down that cliff.

She had thought it was rotten luck, falling and injuring herself, making things even worse for herself, but this was some kind of miracle.

She could earn enough to support them for a year! Things had been tough since her father died and Tobal was crippled in that fateful Thread fall, leaving her and Giane to pick up the pieces of their fractured farm.

Maybe she could even keep some, one each for herself and her siblings, some defence in case such a thing ever happened again.

Eagerly, she emptied her knapsack of game beside the rock and reached for the first of the eggs. She should take the bigger ones first, she decided, just in case she couldn't get back again or someone else stumbled upon it before she did. The egg was hard and warm in her hand, and the Queen watching the nest shrieked a warning, diving at her. She swiped it away, tucking the egg into her bag and reaching for another.

It quickly became a macabre kind of dance as the Queen snarled and dove, leaving bloody gashes across her arms and back, while she pilfered the eggs.

And then another fire lizard appeared, and another, and another, until there was a whole fair of maybe fifty.

Sae decided to simply take the eggs she had and come back for the others.

She was struggling to her aching legs, testing her weight on her injured right, when the Queen made a new sound, a low, humming croon.

It was quickly adopted by the other fire lizards present, until they were all humming, and then one of the eggs gave a sudden rock.

Her knapsack twitched and shuddered.

The egg rocked again.

Slowly, Sae set her knapsack down and reached for the first of her rabbits, drawing her belt knife to hack it up. The firelizards' eyes whirled rainbow shades as more of the eggs began to rock. Cracks formed across the shell of the first. Sae ripped open her knapsack and lifted the eggs out as quickly as she could, setting them back on the warm moss.

It was one of those that was first to hatch, shattering into shards of cream coloured shell. A small damp body shook itself free. Sae snatched it up and began shovelling chunks of meat at it. They were too big, she recognised, and quickly began to hack them smaller with her knife as she fed the little creature. Another hatched as she did so, this one darker than his brother, and she grabbed that too, showing the newly smaller chunks of meat into his hungry mouth.

One of the bigger eggs broke, revealing a lithe, shining body. Sae scooped it up, feeding him chunks of meat as his newly sated brothers began to nap behind her feet. She could feel their contented fullness inside her.

Two more eggs hatched at once, another brown and a second blue. Sae grabbed them and passed them hunks of meat which they fell on, ravenous, as more and more of the eggs started to crack.

The next to hatch were a stout looking green, a third blue, and another bronze. Sae snatched them up to feed them as the adult fire lizards hummed and crooned.

Another brown was next, this one paler than his brothers with a dappled pattern across his hide. Sae caught him and offered him chunks of meat as more of the eggs broke open, a trio of greens and a blue. She caught the blue and two of the greens, but the third dove past her and flapped her unsteady way into the jungle.

The next to hatch was a shining, pale yellow colour, her hide gleaming in the dim light. Sae caught her as she shook herself free of the egg shards covering her and made sure to feed her plenty. Another brown, two blues and two greens hatched as she did so. She managed to catch the brown and one each of the blues and greens, but the other two escaped. The little creatures snapped up the meat eagerly, starving, desperate.

There were only eight eggs left now, smaller ones, and Sae considered leaving them, for she already had sixteen newly hatched firelizards sleeping about her, but she also still had meat left.

And, some part of her said, the more she had, the more protection she would have.

The dragonriders were brave and noble and true, and the dragonriders fought Thread, and the dragonriders _died_. Lazy, some people said, incapable. Grown too used to living in luxury and being supported by the Holds and little farms like hers, and now look what happened.

Thread fell, and her father died, and the farm was brought to near ruin as the silver parasite ate into the ground and destroyed the crops.

Another three eggs broke open, two greens and a blue. She caught the blue and one of the greens, grasping one in each hand as she juggled to feed them. Another three greens hatched as she was doing so, and she could only catch two of them - she was only one person, she only had two hands! - to feed them scraps of the remaining meat.

They were only small and it was enough to sate them, the two falling asleep across her leg with one of their green sisters and two of their blue brothers.

Only two eggs remained now, and as she watched one of them rocked, cracked, and spilt the tiniest fire lizard of the clutch onto the warm moss. Sae gathered him up, slicing up what little remained of the meat to feed the poor tiny blue.

The final egg to hatch was a delicate looking pale green. Sae had just enough meat left to feed her, and the tiny creature chirped and fluttered off to curl up on top of two of her brown brothers.

Sae let out a long breath and collapsed against the wall of the nook, yawning. Her leg burnt and her scratches were deep and painful.

She closed her eyes. A nap wouldn't hurt, a nap before she made the long treck back to the farm to show her mother and siblings the good news. They could protect themselves now, with fire lizards to fight Thread and defend the farm.

She fell asleep thinking about her new tiny protectors and dreamt of fighting Thread with tiny fire lizard wings.

Giane found her there four hours later, covered in baby fire lizards and blood, after heading out to search for her sister who should have been home three hours ago.

_Fin_


End file.
